The common cold is one of the most widespread viral diseases infecting mankind. It is universal and frequently contracted, infecting children and adults throughout their lives, and is one of the most common causes of doctor visits and absenteeism from school and work. The common cold is responsible for more widespread economic loss than perhaps most other medical conditions as measured by direct costs of $17 billion per year and indirect costs of $22.5 billion per year in the U.S. alone, (see A. Fendrick, et al., “The Economic Burden of Non-Influenza-Related Viral Respiratory Tract Infection in the United States,” Arch. Intern. Med., 163(4), 487-494, 2003).
Currently there is no universally accepted, proven medical intervention that is widely available for treatment of the common cold. Most consumers use over-the-counter medications that reduce the inflammation associated with viral infections, in order to reduce the severity of their symptoms. These over-the-counter medications include analgesics, decongestants, mucolytics, and antihistamines, all of which reduce specific mediators of inflammation associated with colds symptoms. A product that is effective in the treatment of the common cold could markedly reduce the negative impact and economic losses otherwise incurred. A greater clinical benefit may be possible by interrupting the viral infection at more proximate points in the infection thereby mitigating the process and avoiding its evolution.
Rhinovirus infection is the most common cause of the common cold, (see R. Dolin, “Common Viral Respiratory Infections and Severe Acute Repiratory Syndrome (SARS)” in A. e. Fauci, Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, pp. 1120-1126, New York: McGraw Hill, 2008). The virus is typically introduced into the nasal passage where it quickly infects cells in the nasal mucosa, reproduces, then spreads to other epithelial cells through ciliary transport of new virions shed into the lumen. This process of viral replication and spread takes place within the first 8-24 hours, at which point symptoms of the colds illness begin to manifest, (see M. Terajima, “Rhinovirus Infection of Primary Cultures of Human Tracheal Epithelium: Role of ICAM-1 and IL-1β,” Am J Physiol—Lung Physiol. 273 (4), L749-L759, 1997). Therefore, it is important to clinically intervene in the colds illness within the first 8-24 hours following infection.
Most researchers believe that intervening very early in the course of viral illness with compounds that interfere with viral replication, virus spread and infection provide the best chance of reducing its overall symptom burden. Few drugs have proven to work in relieving the common cold by interfering with the process of viral infection.
Therefore, new products usable during the manifestation of the colds illness are needed. For example, new pharmaceutical compositions usable for early intervention and reduction of duration of common colds are desirable.